Validation and trend analysis of ECV soil moisture data on cropland in North China Plain during 1981-2010

Global time series of the Essential Climate Variable (ECV) soil mositure (SM) is being developed from passive and active satellite microwave sensors at a coarse spatial resolution with Climate Change Initiative program funded by European Space Agency. This study aims to validate the reliability of ECV SM dataset, and attempts are made to analyze SM trends in cropland. Firstly, in-situ SM measurements during crop growing seasons from 1992 to 2010 for 228 stations across China and 21 stations over cropland of North China Plain (NCP) were employed to validate ECV SM product. Then, the spatiotemporal variations of ECV SM were analyzed during growing period of winter wheat (April-June) and summer maize (July-September) from 1981 to 2010 in NCP. Finally, the possible relationship between SM, precipitation, evapotranspiration and NDVI were explored. Results showed that ECV SM could generally capture the seasonal SM dynamics. The average triple collocation random error of ECV SM in China was 0.052 m3 m−3 while the error in cropland ranged from 0.003 to 0.156 m3 m−3. The averaged Spearman correlation coefficient between ECV SM and all in-situ observations was 0.42 (p < 0.01) in China and 0.43 (p < 0.01) for cropland over NCP. Spatially, ECV SM was decreasing in most areas during wheat season, whereas the trends of ECV SM were positive in south and negative in north during maize season in NCP, being consistent with the precipitation fluctuation. Overall, ECV SM is potentially suitable for trend analysis in NCP and its validations and analysis will be helpful for further enhancement of the ECV SM product.